Obama extends global reach of US Special Operations death squads - World Socialist Web Site
Obama extends global reach of US Special Operations death squads
By Patrick Martin
29 November 2016
In major actions reported only briefly by the establishment press,
President Obama has given vast new scope to the Pentagon’s Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC), authorizing it to carry out assassinations
across the globe.
The units of JSOC have long been employed by the
chiefs of the six major regional military commands, such as Centcom,
which covers the Middle East and Central
Asia, to conduct counter-terrorism operations. One such unit, Seal Team
Six, carried out the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
in May 2011.
Obama has approved a proposal to give JSOC independent
authority to operate outside the regional commands, essentially as a
globalized assassination force. JSOC units will bypass the regional
commanders and report directly to Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in
the Pentagon.
According to the Washington Post, “The missions could
occur well beyond the battlefields of places like Iraq, Syria and Libya,
where Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has carried out
clandestine operations in the past. When finalized, it will elevate JSOC
from being a highly-valued strike tool used by regional military
commands to leading a new multi-agency intelligence and action force.”
